Wednesday, August 8, 2007

PS 40-9: Plants passing gas: Plant traits and greenhouse gas emissions from a North Carolina restored wetland

Eileen Thorsos, Duke University, Ariana Sutton-Grier, Duke University, Song Qian, Duke University, Robert B. Jackson, Duke University, and Justin Wright, Duke University.

Although natural wetlands make up only 4-6% of global land area, they have disproportionately large impacts on the global carbon cycle and on greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, and N2O) emissions. Wetland plants can influence emissions by controlling inputs of resources such as soil organic matter and by influencing abiotic conditions such as oxidation-reduction potential. Plant traits could potentially affect soil greenhouse gas emissions through 4 major chemical pathways: carbon (C) quantity, C quality & nitrogen (N) quantity, oxygen (O), and water (H2O). Carbon quantity-related traits include photosynthetic rate and above- and belowground biomass; C quality and N-related traits include above- and belowground C:N ratios and specific root length; O-related traits include root porosity; and H­2O-related traits include transpiration rates. We examine the relationship between plant traits and gas emissions at a 2-year old experimental restored wetland in Durham, North Carolina. The 2 m by 2 m plots each include 100 individuals, representing 1, 4, or 8 of 10 native herbaceous species; these species have simultaneously had the listed traits measured as continuous variables under greenhouse conditions. Accounting for environmental conditions such as soil moisture and soil inorganic N, preliminary measurements of potential soil CO2 emissions from lab incubations (n=46) do not indicate significant correlations between CO2 emissions and any plant traits at this site. Field measurements of CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions will further explore these potential relationships between plant traits and soil biogeochemical processes.

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